


sinister kid.

by merriell



Series: antarlina (e) [10]
Category: Original Work
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:14:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21743578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merriell/pseuds/merriell
Summary: 2023. Reno had wondered if there were another path for him that he left the moment his wrath rooted itself inside him, sealing him into a cliff with no way out.
Series: antarlina (e) [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1431253





	sinister kid.

Reno wondered once if monster was born or made.

He wondered what was so different about either — they were made, either way, flesh and blood in his mother’s womb, and birthed into the world with a cry to signify the fact that they were breathing. He was just happened to be born into a complicated family, with no blood connection to his sister, and no marriage between his parents.

He had never had the privilege of being normal. His close family members might have always treated him normally, but there were always just moments when he felt as if he missed a step of stairs when he was coming down. Being left from hushed whispers, shared looks and quiet chuckles. His father might have not let anyone smear dirt on his only son, but Reno had the unfortunate capability of simplyknowingthings.

Reno had wondered if there were another path for him that he left the moment his wrath rooted itself inside him, sealing him into a cliff with no way out.

The thing was, he knew about the car crash, the train falling, the bloody hands of Adam's betrayal around his neck, before it even happened. Hadchosenthe dirty path of black magic, of the bruises blooming beautifully out of nothing all over Adam’s body, of the blood that flowed from his mouth, the laughter that spilled out of Reno’s own mouth as Adam lay on his feet, helpless,begging.

Standing over Adam’s body like that with the other’s life between his claws, feeling in control of everything, feeling like a fucking God, has felt better than any acceptance that this world had ever given him.

So he didn’t have the need for acceptance.

At least not until Kinan came along.

Kinan Mahardhika felt like an equation he simply missed. It wasn’t like he didn’t know that they would meet again, the eventual crash between them simply another matter he orchestrated. The knowledge that Kinan simply had not heard anything about him, however, was a happy surprise. Kinan had looked at him and simply saw the boy who gave him cold water under the tree instead of the boy who very nearly killed hisfriend.

Like his real mother, nobody dared mention it to his face; his name had been scrubbed clean, all anonymous, from the news containing the incident, and people who knew were either involved as a witness from the accident, or people who knew the rumour but not the whole truth. _That Makarim kid is such a waste, isn’t it? Threw away his future just because he just couldn’t take being called gay when it’s just simply the truth—_

The rumours had followed him even to his new college. Even when people did not know why, they _speculated_ ,they simply _knew_ , how he wasn’t exactly normal, although they wouldn’t dare say it to him. He couldn’t really blame anyone for that matter - he had his hands into it: as he no longer smiled, no longer made friends, unless they approached him first.

“You’re dangerous,” Angga had said one night, their backs cool as the air conditioning hit their sweat-soaked skin, “that’s what makes you attractive.”

Reno had snorted and lit up a cigarette, zippo clicking cold in his hand. “You’re insane.”

Angga’s curls had fallen near his eyes. They were never really friends, not without the sex, of course, and Reno would never actually admit it, but he _liked_ Angga. Not the way he had towards Adam, not the way he would have towards Kinan, but he liked him with his easy smiles, his apparent disregard for fakeness, his blunt words, _honest_ , that the thing between them was simply for recreation. It was a clear agreement, a contract of sort. It was clear, without anything hidden underneath it.

“No, _you_ are, Moreno,” his kiss on Reno’s cheek was chaste as he took over the cigarette, smile all wolfish. “But that’s what makes you different.”

Angga had known of the incident, mostly because his father was the rectorate that Abi had paid great sum to let Reno enroll. Different from others, though, like he had stated, instead of running away, he approached Reno with a proposal.

Reno accepted it, because, like he said, he actually _liked_ Angga.

But while Kinan’s ignorance about him was outstanding, his blind trust on him (and everyone else—the chink in Kinan’s perfection, his trust was) was something Reno could work on. It was something that enabled Reno to be the dark prince charming in his story, ready to defend and serve him, and for a moment, Reno was unconditionally _loved_.

Even with, “His aura is really dark, you know right?”

Even with, “Don’t you get curious how he knows these things?”

Even with, “You can act like you’re some kind of a prince charming when Kinan’s around, but you can’t hide from me even then. I see your darkness.”

However if there was one thing that he was sure upon this world was that it always, _always_ , had a way of screwing everything up. Reno knew this. He was always alerting himself of changes, of things that did not go according to (his) plan, of fights—

“I met someone nice at the meeting earlier, he said his name was Adam Haryadi. He’s offered to make things easy for me as long as I pass the law...”

—but, always, the world _fucks_ him over.

Reno, halfway through his latte, felt his fingers tremble. He looked up, slowly, from the screen of his Macbook, and tilted his head. It was afternoon at Kinan’s house and the setting sun was painting the scene orange. Kinan’s skin was sweaty from the run, and he was grinning, happy, ignorant and oblivious, like always.

“We were talking after the meeting and he said he knew you from school,” Kinan said.

Reno’s breath hitched on his throat. He would love to drop the mug he was holding, warn and threaten Kinan to go as far as he could from Adam, but that would mean _questions_. And Kinan had been asking _so much_ of him lately, thanks to the influence of Hana, Kanggani, and Giri.

“Let’s have coffee with him,” Kinan said. “I’m sure you two could catch up while we talk about work.”

The mug chipped slightly under the crackle of his magic, wild and uncontrolled with pressure bubbling in his stomach. Reno took a deep breath, felt the cold fire of anger under his skin, threatening to break. It took all of him to say nothing else but:

“Yes,” he said, voice soft. “I would _love_ to have coffee with Adam.”

The restraining magic be damned, he would love to give Adam another piece of his magic.

* * *

“It’s restraining magic, a curse made by humans,” he stated grimly.

Ronové’s hand on his back was as cold as ice, tracing the outline of the crude magical curse with her nails almost cutting his skin. Demons weren’t supposed to breathe, yet hers trickled on the bare skin of his neck, mouth probably not too far behind, a predator ready to snatch her victim. She wouldn’t do it. He wouldn’t have done it if he knew she would.

“You want me to loosen up the curse?” Ronové’s amused tone rang on the air of his apartment. It would smell like roses and jasmine even when she disappeared, he knew. It wasn’t the first time he summoned her, and he already knew it wasn’t going to be the last. “I can just simply take it apart, you do know that, Nadir dear. It is an intricate magical thing, but I promise it’s going to be easy peasy to remove it.”

“I don’t want you to remove it,” Reno answered flatly. When they first applied the curse into him, they had checked the curse for several times over the years, but the visit was getting less and less frequent, and it had almost been two years since the magic was reapplied. They weren’t going to notice, but Adam needed to know he was still hurting when they interacted, or he would get reported. “Just loosen it up. Lessen the hurt.”

“I need your blood,” she muttered, lips close to his skin.

“If I needed to lose blood just to undo a restraining order, I would’ve summoned a lesser demon,” he snarked. “Not a _Lieutenant_."

She was _supposed_ to comply to any of his wishes, in theory, at the very least. Lesser demons would have probably been better for this kind of job, would have happily complied to his wishes for a price. It wasn’t like he had a choice in the matter— lesser demons would have probably not care if their master had other demons in servitude. Unfortunately for him, higher-ranked demons tend to be more _possessive_. Ronové would probably trample any entity that dared to approach him.

It wasn’t written in their contract, but she laid it bare with a drawl of her slow, seductive smile, as the _knowledge_ hit him like a truck.

One second, she was on his back, and the next she was in front of him. “You’re very lucky, Nadir, that you have half the mind to write a contract with me, back then,” she told him. Her body was his height—at least her illusion was—but her presence filled the room with heavy saccharine. Her finger was on his chin; she brought it up with a smile. 

“Don’t act like you don’t appreciate the bargain,” Reno’s face was a still expression as he answered, “you would _need_ me as much as I need you.”

This was a game of _power_. One moment he could be the master. The next, the slave. But as long as Ronové needs him, he could do whatever the fuck he wants.

“You are still going forward with that plan,” Ronové said, not a question, yet he nodded anyway, “Then what is this for, Nadir? All this theatricals, if you are still going to leave, anyway?”

He pushed the hand away. “Loosen the magic, Ronové. That’s all you need to know for now.”

* * *

The restraining curse went as follow: if he was to go too close then a few meters to Adam, a sharp electric pain would bloom all over his veins until he could do nothing but lay on the floor until the minimum distance was fulfilled. He presumed, of course, that was why Adam had brought up the invitation for their meeting to Kinan. 

But Kinan was running late. Reno was already waiting, lips trapping a cigarette between his lips. Loosening up the curse had been painful—Ronové’s inhuman magic crawling underneath his skin, like maggots, almost losing consciousness to her—but the moment Adam’s gaze had met him, and he had only winced, sweat dropping from the side of his face, it was worth every minute.

He still couldn’t wash off the smell of rose from his skin.

“I shouldn’t be surprised,” Adam didn’t sit. He stood across of him, behind the chair, with a small smile. “ _You_ are the person who dared to use black magic in public, after all. With that many witnesses, you should have went into jail. Isn’t it good to have privilege, Ren? Of course _they_ let you off easily with a lesser curse.”

Reno regarded him with a condescending gaze. “Stay away from Kinan,” he simply said, not in the mood to play into Adam’s game.

“Why, are you afraid I’ll hurt him?” Adam seemed almost amused. “I don’t have your level of idiocy. I need him, why would I do such thing?”

Reno didn’t answer. He stared at his hand in a bored manner, already knowing which way this conversation was going. It was almost like he was playing a roleplaying game which branch of story he had already knew. 

“You, on the other hand, should be the one who stays away from him,” Adam’s grip on the chair tightened, “you _are_ dangerous after all.”

“I won’t ask you twice,” Reno simply shrugged.

“Or what, you’ll kill me?” Adam shook his head. “You already tried that once.”

The air between them crackled, their magical energy screaming unused around them. They were inviting unwanted gazes from the restaurant inside, the patrons and waiters alike staring at the two people in either curious and suspicious manner.

“I didn’t try to kill you,” Reno folded his arms in front of him. His whole body was sore from the curse.

“The scars on my body says otherwise.”

“I haven’t, at the very least,” with that, he threw Adam a small smile.

“You’re insane, you know that, right?”

“I like you, you know,” Reno’s smile remained, still and undisturbed. “I liked you. But you also outed me without my consent. I still stand by with what I said back then. You deserved every inch of that hurt, every scars on your body, it _belongs_ there.”

Adam’s hand on the chair slightly trembled, but he didn’t budge. “Be careful where you’re walking, Reno. I might not be able to send you to jail once, but I know _you_. Rumours had been flying around about you and Kinan, you know that, right? I know you two are lovers. I can tell him about this.”

“He already knows about this,” Reno said, though not exactly. Kinan might have known about the accident. He had not told Kinan about the person. But he already knew that he needed to do that.

Reno could almost see the cogs turning in Adam’s head. Could almost open his mouth and follow along with the words Adam was going to say.

“And I can tell everyone about you two,” Adam stated. 

He knew to pretend like his composure was failing, his face falling completely to a frown. Although laughter bubbled in his throat, threatening to topple over. 

Adam had walked straight into the spider’s web. He had took the bait so eagerly, like a hungry fish.

Hook, line, and sinker.

* * *

“It’s not about him, isn’t it?” Ronové asked him as he packed his bags. He was going to Kalimantan. At least _a version_ of him was going to Kalimantan. The other would go to Jakarta, to the office building owned by Haryadi’s family, and he was going to burn it to the fucking ground.

It was going to be an accident, the only suspect having a strong alibi volunteering in Kalimantan.

But not even Kinan needed to know that.

He looked at Ronové’s smile from the mirror. These days he only smiled when he was happy. Today amusement and happiness felt like it was suffocating him. Reno smiled. “No,” he picked up the knife Ronové had given him—every inch of it made by demon’s essence, that would make Adam suffer until his last breath.

“This is only about you.”

Reno looked down at his packed bags, the way Kinan had been so hurt when he said he will leave. He wouldn’t lie. It had hurted to the point that he struggled to breathe. 

_“_ It has always been only about me,” he stated.

For a moment, he imagined a life where he did not have to leave, where he could live forever beside Kinan, be friends with Antariksa, even maybe be friends with Giri. Continue his work, continue to mentor Annisa. Only for a moment. He had never needed their acceptance. The power he felt over others had felt more satisfying than anyone’s love for him.

“Liar,” Ronové said. 

His grip tightened around the knife.

It doesn’t matter. He had always been the monster—and he would fulfill that role, once more, happily.

Happily.


End file.
